
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
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whole duty of man to man is comprehended in that basic
law underlying the last six commandments: "Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself." This is a vital test of genuine
Christianity.
5.
The things of His own on which Christ could look,
were no ordinary things. He was "in the form of God"—
His "express image" and likeness in every respect, possessing
His attributes, and one with Him. He was also "equal with
God." Yet with all this, He did not regard this blessed
estate as something to be clung to, to be prized above every
other consideration. He would look also upon the things of
others—the state of men created in the image of God, but
now eternally lost if left without a deliverer.
6.
The literal reading of "made Himself of no reputation"
is simply "emptied Himself." Wonderful thought!—gave
all He had, gave all He was—the form of God, the express
image of His Father, equality with God, and Himself with
it all! He emptied is mind of every consideration of Him-
self, of His own things, and left even His position empty
while He went "to seek and to save that whicn was lost."
"He voluntarily assumed human nature. It was His own
act, and by His own consent. He clothed His divinity with
humanity. He was all the while as God, but He did not ap-
pear as God.. He veiled the demonstrations of Deity, which
had commanded the homage and called forth the admiration
of the universe of God. He was God while upon earth, but
He divested Himself of the form of God, and in its stead took
the form and fashion of a man. He walked the earth as a
man. For our sakes He became poor, that we through His
poverty might be made rich. He laid aside His glory and
His majesty. He was God, but the glories of the form of
God He for a while relinquished. Though He walked among
men in poverty, scattering His blessings wherever He went,
at His word legions of angels would surround their Redeemer,
and do Him homage. But He walked the earth unrecognized,
unconfessed, with but few exceptions, by His creatures. The
atmosphere was polluted with sin and curses, in place of the
anthem of praise. His lot was poverty and humiliation. As
He passed to and fro upon His mission of mercy to relieve
the sick, to lift up the depressed, scarcely a solitary voice
called Him blessed, and the very greatest of the nation
passed Him by with disdain.
"Contrast this with the riches of glory, the wealth of
praise pouring forth from immortal tongues, the millions
of rich voices in the universe of God in anthems of adora-
tion. But He humbled Himself, , and took mortality upon
Him. As a member of the human family, He was mortal;